Towel cabinet



March 23, 1937. J, m c 2,074,664

TOWEL CABINET Filed June 10, 1955 2 Sheets-Shee l I N VEN TOR.

A TTORNEYS.

March 23, 1937. J. MITCHELL TOWEL CABINET Filed June 10, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVEN TOR.

ATTOR Patented Mar. 23, 1937 UNITED STATES TOWEL CABINET Lawrence J. Mitchell, Oklahoma City, Okla.

Application June 10,

1 Claim.

My invention relates to service cabinets for dispensing hand towels and more particularly for self-serve cabinets for dispensing cloth towels as distinguished from paper towels.

The prime object of the invention is the provision of a cabinet of this class whereby folded cloth towels may be dispensed singly without the cabinet being opened by the user and without dis-arranging the towels remaining in the 10 cabinet.

At the present time there are one or more towel cabinets in common use which present one edge of a paper towel through a slot extending across the face of the cabinet. These cabinets 15 contain the paper towels in a pile, each towel being so folded and placed with relation to the next adjacent towel thereabove that portions of the towels are interlocked so that when the exposed towel is pulled out of the cabinet the edge of the next towel thereabove is also pulled out of the cabinet and left exposed for the next user. In order that the towels may be properly folded and interlocked with each other expensive machinery is required. Such machinery is not adaptable for use in folding cloth towels and due to the nature of the material from which cloth towels are usually made, interlocking of the towels in the above described manner is not practical.

My cabinet is so designed that folded cloth towels may be placed therein in a tier without any of the towels being interlocked with another, and is so designed that one of the towels may be withdrawn from the cabinet without dis-arranging the remaining towels and when so removed another towel will be presented so that it, in turn, may also be removed by the next user.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a cabinet of this class which is new, novel, practical and of utility; which may be easily and quickly loaded with clean towels; which includes a hamper for receiving soiled towels, the hamper being so located that any moisture remaining in the soiled towels will not affect the clean towels and will not in any manner scent them; which is simple in construction; which is economical to manufacture; which is durable; and, which will be efficient in accomplishing all the purposes for which it is intended.

With these and other objects in View as will 0 more fully appear hereinbelow, my invention consists in the construction, novel features, and combination of parts hereinafter more fully described, pointed out in the claims hereto appended, and illustrated in the accompanying two-sheet drawings, of which,

1935, Serial No. 25,817

Figure 1 is a front View;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along the line 2--2 of Fig. 1, showing in dotted lines the hinged clean towel container in an opened position;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along the line 3 3 of Fig. 1;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the cabinet with the door open, the cabinet being shown as cut in two substantially along the line 4--4 of Fig. 1; and,

Figure 5 is a fragmentary bottom view with the door removed.

Like characters of reference designate like parts in all the figures.

It is. understood that various changes in the form, proportion, size, shape, weight and other details of construction, within the scope of my invention maybe resorted to without departing from the spirit or broad principle of my invention and without sacrificing any of the advantages thereof; and it is also understood that the drawings are'to be interpreted as being illustrative and not restrictive.

The inventive idea involved is capable of receiving a variety of mechanical expressions one of which, for the purpose of illustrating the invention, is shown in the accompanying drawings Wherein:

The reference numeral l indicates as a whole b a substantially rectangular box having an open front, a back 2, two similar ends 3, a horizontal upper shelf 4, a horizontal lower shelf 5, an open bottom and a hinged closure or door 1 mounted upon hinges 8 and adapted to close the front of the cabinet. A top 9 having a suitable opening Ill covers the upper end of the cabinet. The top 9 is provided with a plurality of perforations I l for receiving suitable supports, not shown, such as a wire or cord, and the back 2 is provided with spaced openings I2 whereby it may be mounted, if desired, upon wall screws, not shown.

The front face of the door I may be suitably decorated and in the present instance is illustrated as having a mirror 13 held in place by a plurality of clamps l4 and having a pull knob 6 ,whereby it may be opened and closed. At its bottom edge and at a point substantially intermediate its side edges the door is provided with an arcuate notch IS the office of which will be l more fully described hereinbelow. A suitable latch mechanism I6 is provided for normally holding the door in a closed position.

Adjacent its front edge the shelf 4 is provided with a longitudinal slot for receiving the lower edge ll of a removable closure IS the upper edge of which is adapted to bear against a stop l9 carried by the nether surface of the top 9 and to be held thereagainst by a spring latch 20. A suitable perforation 2| is provided in the closure [8 so that its upper edge may be pulled outwardly past the latch and. its lower edge may then be removed from the slot in the shelf 4. The closure l8 together with the shelf 4, the back 2, the ends 3 and the top 9 form a hamper for receiving soiled towels which may be placed therein through the aperture I!) in the top 9.

An open topped box having similar ends one of which is indicated by the reference numeral 22,

7 having a back 23, a front 24 and a rear bottom member 25 which closes only the rearmost portion of the bottom of the box ispivotally mounted in the cabinet upon a pair of pivot pins 26 which engage the ends of the box and the ends 3 of the cabinet. The front 24 at a longitudinal point substantially centrally located intermediate its ends is provided with a V-shaped notch 21 which extends upwardly from its lower edge. The notch i5 is in registration with the notch 21 when the door I is in a closed position. Between the outer surfaces of each of the ends 22 of the box and the inner surfaces of the respective ends 3 of the cabinet is positioned a block 28 which is held in place by screws 29 upon the inner faces of the ends 3. Each of the ends 22 of the box is provided with an outwardly projecting pin 30 which is adapted to contact the rearmost edge 3| of the block 28 and act as a stop to limit the forward tilt of the box upon the pivot pins 26. Rigidly connected to the rear face of the front 24 of the box at a point in a plane with the bottom 25 is a front bottom member 32 which extends from the inner face of the end 3 to the adjacent edge of the notch 21. An open space 33 is therefore left extending across the bottom of the box.

A perforation 34 is provided in the front 24 of the box in order that it may be tilted forwardly. A block 35 is provided upon the rear face of the back 23 of the box in order to limit its rearward motion at its upper edge.

The box above described is for the purpose of receiving, one upon the other, a desired plurality of folded cloth towels 36 (Figs. 1 and 2), and the box is designed to be tipped forwardly as illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 2 in order that the towels may easily be placed in the box. The back 23 of the box may be if desired provided with a cut-away portion 31 in order to assist in the convenience of loading the box with clean towels.

In filling the box with clean towels the door 1 is first opened, a finger is inserted in the perforation 34 and the box is pulled forwardly at its top until the pin 30 contacts the edge 3| of the block 26. The folded towels are then placed in the box in a tier one upon the other as may best be seen in Figs. 1 and 2. The door 1 is then closed. A person desiring to withdraw a towel from the cabinet merely inserts a finger between the lowermost towel in the tier or its lowermost fold, as 'the case may be, and pulls downwardly. The

towel is withdrawn through the space 33 in the bottom of the box and through the notches 21 and H3 in the elements 24 and 1 respectively. Removal of the lowermost towel in no manner disarranges any of the towels thereabove and after one towel has been removed the next towel thereabove will be presented through the notch [5 for use of another person. The soiled towels may be dropped through the opening ID in the top 9 into the hamper. Since the clean towel box and the soiled towel hamper are entirely separated and since the soiled towel hamper is located above the clean towel box no moisture retained by the soiled towels will in any manner affect the clean ones. The opening in the top 9 provides ample ingress of air to permit the soiled towels to dry. When it is desired to remove the soiled towels the door I is opened, a person's finger is inserted in the perforation 2| in the door I8 and its upper edge is pulled forward. The door I8 is then removed from the notch in the shelf 4 and the soiled towels, indicated by the reference numeral 38, may be removed.

It will be noted that the clean towels may be removed from the cabinet with either a straight downward motion, a straight forward motion or a downward and forward motion and that in either event the next towel thereabove will not be dis-arranged in any manner. Since the person withdrawing the towel will be standing in front of the cabinet the natural motion of the lowermost towel in its withdrawal from the cabinet will be slightly forward of the cabinet. This motion will tend to keep the other towels thereabove in a forward position within the box and will keep their front edges safely seated upon the bottom elements 32 of the clean towel box.

From the foregoing description it may be seen that due to the arrangement of the openings whereby the towels are removed there is no occasion for interlocking the towels one with another.

Obviously, the invention is susceptible of embodiment in forms other than that which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described herein, and applicable for uses and purposes other than as detailed, and I therefore consider as my own all such modifications and adaptations and other uses of the form of the device herein described as fairly fall within the scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is:

In a towel dispensing cabinet, a towel supporting container, an open bottomed housing therefor, the bottom of said container being formed of front and rear towel supporting ledges with a delivery space therebetween, the forward supporting ledge being divided into two parts having between them a transversely extending space intersecting the delivery space, and a door for the front of the housing, said door having an opening registering with the transverse space when the door is closed for permitting insertion of a persons fingers for grasping the lowermost towel and accomplishing its removal downwardly through the delivery space, and through the open bottom of said housing.

LAWRENCE J. MITCHELL. 

